CONTENTS. Advertisement 1 Life of Father Louis Lallemant 3 FIRST PRINCIPLE. THE CONSIDERATION OF THE END. CHAP. I. God alone can make us happy 37 II. Our happiness depends on our perfect submission to God, who ought to reign alone in our hearts 41 SECOND PRINCIPLE. THE IDEA OF PERFECTION. SECTION I. OF PERFECTION IN GENERAL. I. The first act of a soul seeking perfection 43 Art. i. How we ought to seek God in all things, and to seek but Him alone 43 ii. We must give ourselves wholly to God 47 iii. How subtlety and dissimulation keep us far from God 49 II. The principal means of perfection 30 Art. i. The sacraments are the principal means of acquiring perfection 50 ii. The use of penances 51 III. The exercise of the virtues that are most necessary to perfection 52 Art. i. Of faith 52 III. Art. ii. How much our want of confidence displeases God and injures ourselves 54 iii. Of humility 56 iv. Of the love of crosses 59 SECTION II. OF THE PERFECTION PECULIAR TO THE COMPANY OF JESUS. I. Wherein consists the perfection peculiar to this Company 61 Art. i. The end of the institution of the Company of Jesus, and the means of arriving thereat 61 ii. The Company belongs to Jesus Christ as Saviour 63 iii. St. Ignatius the model of the perfection of the Company 64 II. Of the different dispositions of religious with regard to perfection 65 III. The motives that induce us to labour at our perfection 67 Art. i. The desire of our own salvation 67 ii. The order of a well-regulated zeal 68 iii. The fruit of our labours 68 iv. How many persons are interested in our perfection 69 IV. The means of perfection peculiar to the Company 70 Art. i. In what way the exercise of prayer in the Company should be practised 70 ii. The obedience and exact observance of the rules peculiar to our Company, and the motives thereto 72 V. Zeal for the salvation and perfection of our neighbour 74 Art. i. Motive for zeal 74 ii. What use we ought to make of knowledge, after the example of St. Ignatius 74 iii. The means by which the reputation and influence of the Company are to be maintained 75 VI. Divers counsels 77 Art. i. Advice to a teacher of young religious on their coming out of the noviciate 77 ii. Advice to the Fathers of the third year for the time of their noviciate 82 iii. Advice to the Fathers of the third year, on completing their noviciate, for their conduct during the rest of their life 86 VI. Art. iv. Advice to preachers 90 v. Advice for various employments in the Company 92 THIRD PRINCIPLE. PURITY OF HEART. I. Its nature and properties 96 Art. i. In what purity of heart consists 96 ii. How necessary purity of heart is to us 96 iii. The order to be observed in purity of heart, and the different degrees of purity 98 II. The things from which we must cleanse our hearts 100 Art. i. Venial sins 100 ii. The passions 103 iii. The fund of pride there is in us 105 iv. We must not neglect our least imperfections 109 v. Of the denial of our inclinations, in order to put ourselves in a state of holy indifference 110 vi. How we ought to comport ourselves with respect to divine graces, and with what self-abnegation we must receive them 113 III. The care we ought to take to preserve purity of heart in action 117 Art. i. We must perform our actions with a pure intention 117 ii. We ought to act on supernatural principles 118 IV. Mental causes of the corruption of the heart 118 Art. i. Error and false maxims 118 ii. Ignorance 119 V. External causes of the corruption of the heart 122 Art. i. The harm that results from particular friendships, and the conversations of the imperfect 122 ii. The faults we ought to avoid in conversation 123 iii. Of unprofitable visits and conversation 124 FOURTH PRINCIPLE. OF THE GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND DOCILITY THERETO. I. The nature of docility to the guidance of the Holy Spirit 126 Art. i. In what this docility consists 126 ii. The means of attaining this docility 127 iii. Objections against this doctrine of the guidance of the Holy Spirit 128 II. The motives which lead us to the practice of this docility 131 Art. i. That perfection, and even salvation, depend on docility to grace 131 \ ii. There are but few perfect souls, because there are but few who follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit 135 iii The excellence of grace, and the injustice of the opposition we offer to it 137 iv. The Holy Spirit exercises the office of comforter to faithful souls 139 III. Of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in general 141 Art. i. Of the nature of the gifts of the Holy Spirit 141 ii. Of the effects of the gifts of the Holy Spirit 143 iii. Whence it comes that the gifts of the Holy Spirit produce so little effect in souls 147 IV. Of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in detail 150 Art i. Of the gift of wisdom 150 ii. Of the gift of understanding 158 iii. Of the gift of science 162 iv. Of the gift of counsel 171 v. Of the gift of piety 178 vi. Of the gift of fortitude 182 vii. Of the gift of the fear of God 188 V. Of the fruits of the Holy Spirit 193 Art. i. Of the nature of the fruits of the Holy Spirit 193 ii. Of the fruits of ckarity, joy, and peace 195 iii. Of the fruits of patience and meekness 198 iv. Of the fruits of goodness and benignity 199 v. Of Ihe fruits of longanimity 199 vi. Of the fruits of faith 199 vii. Of the fruits of modesty, temperance, and chastity 201 VI. The obstacles which the devil puts in our way in the practice of docility to the guidance of the Holy Spirit 202 Art. i. How the devil prevents our spiritual advancement 202 ii. Different artifices of the devil to deceive us 203 iii. Of distinguishing between the operations of God and those of the devil 205 iv. Secret illusions 206 v. Marks of a deluded soul 207 vi. What we ought to observe in the movements leading us to good 208 FIFTH PRINCIPLE. RECOLLECTION, AND THE INTERIOR LIFE. I. Of the nature and causes of the interior life 209 Art. i. In what the interior life consists 209 ii. How we ought to imitate the interior life of God 211 iii. How it is that we make so little progress in the interior life 212 II. Of the motives that lead us to the interior life 213 Art. i. We make no progress in the ways of perfection unless we give ourselves to the interior life 213 ii. W ithout prayer we cannot acquit ourselves of the duties of our vocation, nor gather fruit from our ministrations 215 iii. Peace is not found except in the interior life, and our dissatisfactions spring only from our not being interior men 219 III. The occupations of the interior life 220 Art. i. Of watchfulness over our interior 220 ii. How important it is that we should join the interior life with our exterior occupations 225 iii. We ought not to engage in exterior occupations of our own accord 227 IV. Advice for the interior life 228 Art i. We ought to cultivate the will more than the understanding 228 ii. The path of faith is a safer way to perfection than that of sensible graces 229 iii. The best mode of practising the virtues 229 IV. Art iii. The advantages of contemplation 301 iv. Contemplation, so far from being opposed thereto, is necessary to the Apostolic life 304 v. What contemplation is 306 vi. Of the properties and effects of contemplation 308 vii. Different divisions of the degrees of contemplation 312 viii. Another division of the degrees of contemplation 317 ix. Opinion on the above divisions 321 ADDITIONS. I. Of perfection in general 327 Art. i. Motives that excite us to perfection 327 ii. Wherein perfection consists, and what dispositions we ought to bring thereto 327 iii. Of the practice of perfection 329 II. Of purity of heart 330 III. In what the faithful service of God consists 332 IV. Important advice for the advancement of souls 332 V. Of humility 333 VI. Of holy simplicity 334 VII. Of the spirit of devotion 335 VIII. Of different kinds of religious, and of the things that are most prejudicial to certain holy communities 337 IX. Of the spirit of the Company of Jesus 338 X. Of the kingdom of God in souls 344 Art. i. In what the kingdom of God consists, and its advantages 344 ii. Of the conduct of the kingdom of God 345 iii. Of the happiness of the kingdom of God 347 iv. Of the practice of the interior kingdom of God, or the means of establishing it within us 349 Digitized by Google.

Translated from the French

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